Temperature on the Surface of Mercury
An educational, fair use website
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) |
Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Spaulding and Namowitz. Earth Science. 1994. | "This slow rate, combined with mercury's nearness to the sun, causes a daytime temperature of more than 400 °C. In the nightime, heat radiates away quickly and the temperature may be as low as −200 °C" | 670 K (day) 70 K (night) |
| Rivera, Juan. Mercury. Juan's Space Exploration Web Page. | "The temperature on mercury gets very hot, at times it reaches 660 degrees farenheit. That is enough to melt some metals." | 620 K |
| Watters, Thomas R. Planets. Ligature Inc, 1995. | "From the night, Mercury's surface temperature changes 1,130 °F (630 °C), more than any other planet or moon in the solar system. Just before sunrise on a typical day on Mercury the temperature is −300 °F (−180 °C). By midmorning the temperature rises to 80 °F (27 °C). At noontime, 22 Earth days since the sun rise, it has climbed to 765 °F (407 °C). In the early afternoon the temperature reaches a high of 800 °F (427 °C), hot enough to melt zinc and tin." | 90 K (night) 250 K (midmorning) 680 K (noon) 700 K (early afternoon) |
| Pasachoff, Jay M. & Donald H. Menzel. Stars and Planets. 1992. | "The temperature at midday is over 400 °C (750 °F)" | 670K (midday) |
| Ridpath, Ian. Stars and Planets. 1998. | "The barren, rocky surface is blasted by solar radiation, which raises its temperature to above 840 °F (450 °C) at noon on the equator when the planet is nearest the Sun…. At night the surface temperature plumets to below −290 °F (−180 °C)!" | 720 K (day) 90 K (night) |
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. It is also the second smallest planet after Pluto. Mercury is less than a half of the diameter of the Earth and is a little bigger than the moon, its diameter is 3,031 km. Since Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, the temperature on the surface of Mercury is very high. The temperature of the surface of Mercury changes from day to night. Before the sunrise the temperature on the surface of Mercury is as low as 100 K (−170 °C) and by noon the temperature on the surface of Mercury rises to about 700 K (400 °C). The change in temperature on the surface of Mercury is due to its rotation and lack of atmosphere. During the day the temperature is so high that it could melt some metals and during the night the temperature drops well bellow freezing. Due to the extremely high temperatures and solar radiation on the surface of mercury during the day, the surface of the planet is dry and barren.
Olesya Nisanov -- 2000
| Bibliographic Entry | Result (w/surrounding text) |
Standardized Result |
|---|---|---|
| Solomon, Sean R. "Return to the Iron Planet." New Scientist. 29 January 2000: 35. | "With almost no atmosphere, the planet's equatorial surface bakes at a sizzling 450 °C near noon, but cools to below −170 °C late at night." | 720 K (noon) 100 K (night) |
| Arnett, Bill. Mercury. Nine Planets Solar System Tour. University of Arizona. | "Temperature variations on Mercury are the most extreme in the solar system ranging from 90 K to 700 K. The temperature on Venus is slightly hotter but very stable." | 700 K (day) 90 K (night) |
Editor's Supplement -- 2000